Immigration arrests and detentions are on a steep upswing across the United States, including in Kentucky, where local law enforcement agencies are increasingly partnering with ICE through 287(g) agreements, which provide financial incentives for locating undocumented immigrants.
There are three types of 287(g) agreements: the jail enforcement model, which allows officers to identify people in custody; the warrant service officer model, which lets officers serve immigration warrants in jails; and the task force model, which lets officers make immigration arrests during routine policing.
Though the task force model was discontinued in 2012 due to documented civil rights concerns, it was not gone for good.
"Since the inauguration, the task force model has been brought back," said Ashley Spalding, a researcher with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. "So the most aggressive model is the most common 287G agreement right now, including in Kentucky."
Spalding co-authored a January report detailing how 287(g) agreements offer financial incentives to drive local enforcement.
Nationally, 287(g) agreements surged from 135 on inauguration day 2025 to more than 1,300 by January 2026. In Kentucky, 22 law enforcement agencies have signed such agreements, with eight new partnerships formed in just the last few months.
"They've really been ramping up," said Spalding. "And the participation of state and local law enforcement agencies is really a key part of the administration's mass deportation agenda. Kentucky and our local communities are impacted by this. This isn't something happening just elsewhere. It's happening here."
While at least six states have laws that prohibit or restrict participation in 287(g) programs, two bills in the Kentucky General Assembly would require participation.
House Bill 47 would mandate that all Kentucky State Police posts enter task force model agreements with ICE. Officers who participate in the program would be required to complete 40 hours of ICE training, which would count toward their annual in-service training requirements. The bill has 18 co-sponsors and has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
Senate Bill 86 goes further, requiring both Kentucky State Police and all local law enforcement agencies to participate in all three types of 287(g) programs. The bill has 10 sponsors and awaits committee assignment.
Senator Phillip Wheeler and Representative T.J. Roberts, the primary sponsors of the bills, did not respond to requests for comment.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last summer, created new funding for immigration enforcement. The federal government now reimburses agencies for the full salary and benefits of each officer trained under 287(g) agreements. Additionally, agencies can receive quarterly performance bonuses based on successfully locating people identified by ICE. The bonuses range from $500 to $1,000 per officer, depending on how many ICE targets are found.
The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly claimed it is targeting "the worst of the worst," a phrase used by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, and ICE Director Todd Lyons.
But the data does not support those claims. Analysis of ICE arrest data by the Deportation Data Project shows that about a third of those arrested had neither a criminal conviction nor pending charges. The percentage of arrests of people with no criminal record has doubled since the start of the second Trump administration - from 21.9% in the first three months to 40.5% in the three months ending in mid-October 2025.
"The majority of people who are arrested and detained by ICE, they don't have any criminal record," said Spalding. "And those that do, it could be something very, very minor. There are lots of claims about our immigrant neighbors, about our communities and what we should be concerned about related to immigration that are just not founded; they are not based in what's really happening."
While being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. is a civil violation, it is not a criminal offense.
The full report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy is available online.